The prior art comprises numerous documents relating to battery mounting devices.
WO Patent Application 01/77760A1 discloses a device for mounting a cell battery inside the case of an electronic watch. This device comprises, in particular, a substantially cylindrical housing, moulded from plastic material and opening onto the back side of the watch. The housing comprises, on its periphery, tongues extending from the bottom towards the opening and preferably moulded in one-piece with the housing. Each tongue is arranged to form a support area on the face of the battery oriented on the side of the opening, when the battery is mounted inside the housing. Mounting is achieved by elastically deforming the tongues.
However, this particular structure has a drawback in that, in order to introduce a battery into the housing, the latter has to be inserted slantwise through the aperture of the housing. Thus, this insertion is difficult to implement in an automated assembly line.
Such a device also has the drawback that the battery may not be properly held in place in the event of a shock. Indeed, if the shock is sufficiently violent, the battery, which has a relatively large mass compared to the constituent elements of the watch, may be projected in a direction such that it can deform the elastic tongues and leave the housing, which may risk interrupting the supply of electrical power to the watch.
Yet another drawback of this device is that, when the diameter of the calibre or the height of the battery changes, the plastic housing must be adjusted and a new mould ordered, which involves additional development and equipment costs for each new model.